The present invention relates to a high-frequency multi-pin connector which can be employed for electrically interconnecting printed circuit boards each having mounted thereon a high-frequency circuit, for instance.
FIG. 1 shows in perspective the external appearance of a conventional multi-pin connector. Reference numeral 10 indicates a connector socket and 20 a connector plug.
The connector socket 10 has a construction in which forked female contacts 13 are received in a number of female contact receiving holes 12 made in one side of a rectangular prismatic insulating body 11 as shown in FIG. 2. The connector plug 20 has a number of male pin contacts 22 protrusively planted on one side of a rectangular prismatic insulating body 21. The male pin contacts 22 are respectively inserted into the female contact receiving holes 12 for electrical contact with the female contacts 13. In this example, the connector socket 10 is shown to have connected thereto a flat cable 30 and the connector plug 20 is shown to be mounted on a printed circuit board 40.
To ensure high reliability of its contact, the conventional multi-pin connector employs the forked female contact 13 which makes contact with the male pin contact 22 at two points a and b or more as depicted in FIG. 2. With such a multi-pin contact structure, it is difficult to make the characteristic impedance of a signal path constant Further, since the connector plug 20 has a construction in which the male pin contacts 22 are disposed in parallel and signals are applied to such parallel male pin contacts 22, the signals interfere with each other, resulting in a crosstalk. Moreover, in the connector socket 10 the female contact 13 is forked and makes contact with the male pin contact 22 at the two points a and b, but when the former cannot contact with the latter at either one of the two points a and b by some cause, the non-contacting piece of the female contact 13 forms a parasitic inductance and a parasitic capacitance, which produce a resonance circuit or the like, adversely affecting the signal transmission characteristic.